different between speak vs avow
speak
English
Alternative forms
- speake (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle English speken (“to speak”), from Old English specan (“to speak”), alteration of earlier sprecan (“to speak”), from Proto-West Germanic *sprekan, from Proto-Germanic *sprekan? (“to speak, make a sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *spreg- (“to make a sound, utter, speak”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /spi?k/
- (General American) enPR: sp?k, IPA(key): /spik/
- Rhymes: -i?k
Verb
speak (third-person singular simple present speaks, present participle speaking, simple past spoke or (archaic) spake, past participle spoken or (colloquial, nonstandard) spoke)
- (intransitive) To communicate with one's voice, to say words out loud.
- (intransitive, reciprocal) To have a conversation.
- (by extension) To communicate or converse by some means other than orally, such as writing or facial expressions.
- (intransitive) To deliver a message to a group; to deliver a speech.
- (transitive) To be able to communicate in a language.
- (by extension) To be able to communicate in the manner of specialists in a field.
- (by extension) To be able to communicate in the manner of specialists in a field.
- (transitive) To utter.
- (transitive) To communicate (some fact or feeling); to bespeak, to indicate.
- 1785, Frances Burney, Diary and letters of Madame d'Arblay, author of Evelina, Cecilia, &c., link:
- Their behaviour to each other speaks the most cordial confidence and happiness.
- 1785, Frances Burney, Diary and letters of Madame d'Arblay, author of Evelina, Cecilia, &c., link:
- (informal, transitive, sometimes humorous) To understand (as though it were a language).
- (intransitive) To produce a sound; to sound.
- Of a bird, to be able to vocally reproduce words or phrases from a human language.
- (transitive, archaic) To address; to accost; to speak to.
- [He will] thee in hope; he will speak thee fair.
- 1842, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Threnody in "Poems", published 1847, page 239
- Each village senior paused to scan / And speak the lovely caravan.
- 2013, George Francis Dow, Slave Ships and Slaving (quoting an older text)
- Spoke the ship Union of Newport, without any anchor. The next day ran down to Acra, where the windlass was again capsized and the pawls broken.
Usage notes
- Saying that one speaks a language often means that one can or knows how to speak it ("I speak Italian"); similarly, "I don't speak Italian" usually means that one cannot, rather than that one chooses not to.
Synonyms
- articulate, talk, verbalize
Antonyms
- be silent
Derived terms
Coordinate terms
- sign
Related terms
- speech
Translations
Noun
speak (countable and uncountable, plural speaks)
- language, jargon, or terminology used uniquely in a particular environment or group.
- Corporate speak; IT speak.
- Speech, conversation.
Derived terms
Translations
Noun
speak (plural speaks)
- (dated) a low class bar, a speakeasy.
Anagrams
- Akpes, Paeks, Pasek, Peaks, Spake, kapes, peaks, spake
Scots
Etymology
From Old English sprecan
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [sp?k]
- (North Northern Scots) IPA(key): [sp?k]
Verb
speak (third-person singular present speaks, present participle speakin, past spak, past participle spoken)
- to speak
Derived terms
speak From the web:
- what speakers fit my car
- what speaker wire to use
- what speakers work with alexa
- what speakers work with roku tv
- what speaks primordial 5e
- what speaks without a mouth
- what speaker wire is positive
- what speakers work with audio technica turntable
avow
English
Etymology
From Middle English avowen, from Old French avouer, from Latin advocare (“to call to, call upon, hence to call as a witness, defender, patron, or advocate”), from ad (“to”) + vocare (“to call”). Doublet of advoke, avouch, and advocate.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /??va?/
- Rhymes: -a?
Verb
avow (third-person singular simple present avows, present participle avowing, simple past and past participle avowed)
- (transitive) To declare openly and boldly, as something believed to be right; to own, acknowledge or confess frankly.
- (transitive) To bind or devote by a vow.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Wyclif to this entry?)
- (law) To acknowledge and justify, as an act done. See avowry.
Antonyms
- disavow
Related terms
Translations
Noun
avow
- (obsolete) avowal
- without thy Knowledge and Avow
Further reading
- avow in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- avow in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
- avow at OneLook Dictionary Search
avow From the web:
- avow meaning
- avowed what we know
- avowal what does it mean
- what is avowed game
- what is avowed identity
- what is avow cult
- what does avow stand for
- what is a vowel sound
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